Doing it their way at Rockwood Room

Ol’ Blue Eyes is crooning My Way as we near the end of our big-spender meal at the plush canteen that is the Rockwood Room. That piped-in music perfectly defines the big-steaks/deep-martinis Rat Pack vibe of the new collaboration between chef Michael Dei Maggi and partner Derek Black. These cats are most definitely doing things their way.

A theatrical open kitchen — a nightclub stage, if you will, minus the showgirls — is the focal point of this stylish dining room where patrons are digging into a menu of what Dei Maggi calls post-WWII-era food such as oysters “Rockwoodfeller,” prime rib, lobster tails, sweetbreads, salads slathered with Roquefort dressing, and spaghetti and meatballs. Foods Sinatra and pals would have heartily endorsed.

“It’s very simple ingredients treated nicely,” Dei Maggi said. Very nicely, as one bite of deep-fried wild mushrooms in champagne batter proves. Crunchy, salty, earthy — an addictive starter made even more essential by an Armagnac peppercorn fondue. Groovy. Mad Men-era foods such as breaded sweetbreads and showoff lobster tails are other menu items that fit the bill. And if you order prime rib, get ready for the slab of rosy flesh you’ll be served: primal, juicy, essential.

There’s an intelligent wine list to pair with your hunks of seared flesh. But if hooch is your poison, you’ve also come to the right place: Black’s menu of specialty cocktails includes classics such as the Sidecar, Rob Roy, Gibson, Negroni and the Vesper martini. The house’s Royal St. Manhattan (made with rye, Remy V.S.O.P. cognac, sweet vermouth, Benedictine and bitters) might just be the smoothest ride you’ll ever take.

Be sure to sample a Rockwood Maple Bacon Manhattan, a drink Black devised for a cocktail competition by Woodford Reserve bourbon (he won, by the way). Made with Woodford bourbon, sweet vermouth, maple syrup and bitters and served in a bacon-chip-rimmed martini glass, it’s a libation that is better experienced than explained. Hey, we told you they were doing things their way at the Rockwood Room.

greg.morago@chron.com

DAVE ROSSMAN

The Rockwood Room’s Maple Bacon Manhattan.

THE MAPLE BACON MANHATTAN

(Courtesy of beverage director Derek Black, the Rockwood Room)

• 2 ounces bacon-infused Woodford Reserve bourbon

• 1 ounce sweet vermouth

• 1 teaspoon of maple syrup

• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters

Pour bourbon, vermouth, syrup and bitters into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir — never shake — and strain into a chilled martini glass. Use ground bacon and brown sugar (turbinado) as rim sugar.

To make bacon-infused bourbon: Place 2 cups bourbon in a glass jar with lid. Fry 4-5 slices of your favorite bacon. Pour bacon grease into jar with bourbon. Cover, let marry overnight in refrigerator. Strain bourbon through cheesecloth into another container. Use infused bourbon to create cocktail.